We are Tskimagi (Tiscamogie) from Ahmayeli, the mist in the water by Nelhonuh, when the earth divided. We are Eshheeloarchie, Keepers of the Sacred Fire. We are Mississippian, Muskogean, and Mobillian, we spoke Erati and the Mobillian Trade Language. We are the defenders of our homeland. We are Chickamauga!
The Chickamauga Nation is a Single Nation operating as various Regions on each side of the Mississippi River because of the 1809, 1817, 1828, and 1835 Treaties forever linking us together as a Single Nation. We are forever one Chickamauga Nation linked by blood and Treaties.
We honor every drop of Chickamauga blood, as General Nenetuah or Iskaqua (Bloody Fellow) proclaimed about our blood, “even should the habits and customs of the whites, or even should they themselves become white by intermarriage not a drop of Indian blood would be lost; it would be spread more widely but not lost.” None of us are pureblood, but we are fullblood according to General Nenetuah.
That is why The Chickamauga Nation will take every person with a drop of Chickamauga blood, because they are fullblood Chickamauga. We must never forget we are the “half-breeds” and “mixed-breeds” and we proudly wear the moniker. We were the despised, rejected, and abandoned. We took in the despised, rejected, and abandoned and made them ours by adopting them into our family.
As we STAND here in the present we must take a step back seven (7) generations of ancestors’ wisdom and knowledge and honor and cherish them. As we STAND here in the present, we must take a step into the future preparing a way for the seven (7) generations to come. We STAND on the wisdom of our ancestors as our progeny will stand upon ours.
(C) This document was produced at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on July 18, 2019, to document the History, Anthropology, Culture, Religion, and Archaeology of The Chickamauga Nation.